First swims of the year (2015) Sanna Bay!

First swims of the year (2015) Sanna Bay!

What better way to start the new year than with a dip...well i think so at least. And what better place to dip than Sanna Bay, on the peninsular of Ardnurmurchan.

The first dip, sundown on January the 1st, my birthday!!!! The water a tad choppy but with just enough light left to see where we had left our Dryrobes, we entered its cool depths. The water still held onto its brilliant emerald shade, visibility .....good!!

A storm had been forecast and it was just what we needed to help us clear our somewhat foggy heads from the Hogmanay festivities played out in true traditional style with 'first footing' by the gentlemen, many in kilts and giving gifts of coal to the ladies. A great night filled with champagne and laughter but now to see in the start of the year in the best way that we know how.

My good friend and professional  photographer Hamza Yassin of  https://www.facebook.com/hamzayassinphotography  http://hamzayassin.photoshelter.com/ was there to snap our swim, unfortunately for him and i suspect rather frustratingly we had left it late in the  day to start our swim and the light was not good. He managed to get several pics that showed the amazing colour of the water though and us playing in it ....tomorrow would be a different swim!

The next day, just as the weather had been forecast, was a mixture of sun and cloud, the wind was up to gale force but did that deter us...not a hope. Not sure how long we would be in the three of us donned our faithful Huub wetsuits (http://huubdesign.com/) wrapped ourselves up in the Dryrobe and headed back to Sanna Bay. 

Alighting the cars, it was a struggle to keep the robes around us and we ended up doing a superman impression most of the time (of course we could have zipped them up but.....well we were women on a mission.....to get in the water!!! But first to try to store our outer garments so that they did not end up on the other side of the bay or even in the water. 

Just trying to put goggles, hats and gloves on became a battle of wind versus skin stripping sand. But eventually we got there, robes bundled up together in the hope they would stay in place!

The waves of the previous day forgotten as we turned and faced the raging waters we were about to enter, the tide was out making the walk to the waters edge even longer. Talking at a louder volume to be heard above the pounding we were all grinning, this was going to be fun!

No idea of the water temperature before you ask, it was chilly on the toes and fingers but other than that fine..the wetsuits helped!!

The water really was trying to suck us in! The force of the water literally sucking the sand from under our feet and then as the ground turned solid beneath us the water rose in front of us. Thundering with increasing speed towards the shore and relentless in its path. We were merely players while she let us in but mother nature at any time could have decided we were unwelcome, picked us up with her watery embrace and spat us out back on shore.

But time and time again we turned our backs on her, daring her to do just that....before she swept us off of our feet forcing us backwards only to have us turn round and run back towards her inky depths!

Yesterdays waters had a wonderfully clear green colour to it, today's was frothy and bouncy. Her ferocity had a bite to it that was not to be messed with. 

As much a we wanted to get out beyond the big breakers we literally couldn't mother nature deciding to keep us safe would not let us get out past shoulder height before throwing us back to land, in honesty it would have been dangerous to have got past the big waves, even those that we were playing with (head height) were pushing us not only backwards but also towards the rocks, many a time we had to return to the centre of the bay to maintain our position on the beach. 

The sun occasionally came out to greet us, water shining off of our wetsuits, our grins huge, we werer loving it. There was even time to play in the shallow water....not quite sure what Loraine MacDonald was doing here while  Alison and i were chatting...i am sure there was a large wave only a second or two before and now nothing but bubbles and froth!

 Not once did she relent as we ran in and out of the waves, waves too high that we could not even jump over them, diving under them brought us up in inches of water and spitting sand....in fact i think we all found sand in places we did not know existed when we showered!

All the time we were playing Hamza was clicking away with his camera, the sunlight coming through just as he wanted it too. Un-be-known to us, we had an audience, a large group where stood watching us, we could not hear what they were saying....probably the normal things that open water swimmers hear...is it  cold, how long have you been in, is it  rough in there....and so on!!! We did not mind though we were like children (albeit grown up ones!!) doing what we love and boy were we loving it. 

It was an amazing swim in Sanna bay, Ardnurmurchans jewel in the sand and as we discovered as wonderful in a winter storm as in the summer rays!!!